You are Important

Self care has a major impact on my health. Not only my mental health but also my physical health. Realising the importance of myself has been one of the biggest achievements in the last year.

I spent a long time thinking that I couldn’t do what I wanted to because there must be something else I should be doing. Things like saying no to people, no I don’t want to go here or there, no I don’t like this/that. There is nothing wrong with saying no but it is always something that I would feel guilty for, I’d always say yes and then get myself wound up about what I had in the diary – it was never good and always ended in me being unwell.

Something as simple as sitting on the sofa and watching a TV series, not when I’m depressed and can’t get off the sofa, but when I’m well and think ‘I really want to sit and watch this today’. Just allowing myself to do things I enjoy, without feeling guilty, was incredibly hard.

Now I let myself do these things, yes I said let. There is still a little guilt in there and I don’t know If I will ever get rid of it, but I can read a book, garden, ignore the world if I wish and recognise it for what it is, me time.

Me time is the time I re-charge and look after myself. Below are a few things I do which help to relieve my anxiety and stress.

Take a very long bath – I love a bath and particularly one with bubbles and salts etc. I use a lot of Lush products, I have sensitive skin but many of their items are fine for me.

Journal – I bullet journal, I love it. My journal is very basic but helps me to keep track of a few things and have an excuse for all of my stationery, I have a stationery subscription from the Papergang by Ohh Deer

Run – ooooooh I know exercise!!! I hate the thought of it, but love doing it. I have a cross-trainer at home as I love running but I can’t do it on a road due to my knees. I hate gyms so don’t want a membership, and I like being at home.

Be at home – this is probably my favourite thing. I love being at home, in my space. I love my own company and there are sometimes when I don’t want anyone else’s.

DIY – By DIY I mean any of my crafts really but i also mean decorating, I love it. There is something very relaxing and satisfying about decorating a room or a piece of furniture.

I have about a million more me time activities I could add to this list but we’d be here all day if I did.

All you need to remember is that you are important, so look after yourself.

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3 Comments

Hi Phigella you are so right. We often spend time making sure everyone else is ok but we need to make sure we are ok too or we won’t be able to do anything. It’s good to take time out and just do what we want to do sometimes 😊

Oh my goodness, Phigella, this post almost made me cry. I felt like you and I were sitting and having a nice chat. I feel you bbn are my spirit animal…sister…being…from another world (it honestly feels like we are worlds apart). The internet is a glorious thing to have brought people together with similar lives and thoughts and ideas. You described me to a “T”. You are a remarkable bbn person and, as always, this is a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing!